Free Republic

North Carolinians agreed to borrow $2 billion last year to support higher education and infrastructure. Should they borrow a similar amount to more quickly build Interstate 87 and other important roads? Some local officials say yes. For more than a year, Interstate 87 has been a burning issue for elected officials in Pasquotank and surrounding counties. Creating that road from Raleigh to the Virginia state line would cost more than $1.3 billion, based on early estimates, and it could take decades to develop. Just widening U.S. Highway 17 to interstate standards from northern Pasquotank through Camden may cost almost $187...

A would-be armed robber apparently had second thoughts when an employee pulled out his shotgun Monday night. It happened at the Salem & Sons Convenience Store on Sunset Avenue in Rocky Mount around 10:20 p.m. Police say employees were inside cleaning up, and saw a customer at the front door. They let the man inside, but at the same time another man came in as well and showed a black handgun in the direction of an employee. That employee immediately got his shotgun, racked the slide, and pointed it at the would-be robber. The robber then turned around and slowly...

People across the country are gathering today for “tea parties.“ It’s all a part of a tax day protest. Those involved say they aren’t happy with how the government is spending tax payer dollars. Among those events going on in our area is a demonstration at the Franklin County Courthouse in Rocky Mount. We’ll have a full report from that tea party tonight on WSLS at 5:30 p.m. A tea party is also planned in Roanoke along Wiley Drive from 5:00-7:00 p.m. We’ll bring you what happened there, tonight on WSLS at 11:00 p.m. Huber: Over 500 in attendance along...

GARYSBURG, N.C. -- Amtrak officials say they removed a passenger who was behaving suspiciously from a train in North Carolina on Monday. The Silver Star was headed to Miami from New York when it stopped in Garysburg, N.C., near N.C. 64. That happened just before 7 p.m. about 30 miles east of Rocky Mount. Officials declined to say what the passenger was doing.

Amtrak service on both north and southbound tracks has come to a halt after a bridge support was damaged in Rocky Mount Wednesday evening. -- Until the repairs are made, no rail traffic north or southbound can happen south of Rocky Mount. All trains between Florida and Rocky Mount will be cancelled as a result, as well as any trains in northern areas headed south of Rocky Mount. There is no current estimate on the number of trains affected.

Professor disputes Holocaust By GEORGE A. CHIDI, Rocky Mount Telegram Saturday, May 21, 2005 The phone call inquiring about Professor Jane Christensen's views on the Holocaust was brief. Asked directly about her view of the Holocaust — Do you believe that the historic accounts of the Holocaust are true? — Christensen's response was cryptic and evasive. "Do you mean the Holocaust in Fallujah?" she said. No. The question referred to the conventionally held definition of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by Nazis, many in concentration camps. The question was redirected — Do you believe Germany...

Professor defends Web siteBy GEORGE A. CHIDI, Rocky Mount Telegram Saturday, May 14, 2005 Not all of the e-mail Professor Jane Christensen has received in the last few weeks has been death threats, she said. "A lot of it is positive," said the N.C. Wesleyan College political science professor at the heart of controversy about a course criticizing the official accounts of the 9/11 attacks. "A lot of people have been very supportive." The herky-jerky revelations about Christensen's views emerged in online Web logs, also called blogs, linking back to commentary from Web sites such as Frontpagemag.org and Townhall.com,...